Baldwin County Commission- Candidacy Announcement

July 6, 2009

Dear Friends:

I hope you and your families are all having a great Summer and had a nice 4th of July Holiday!

Today is July 6, 2009. Open Campaigning for the 2010 election cycle began a month ago and for me, it is decision time. For over a year now, I have been involving myself heavily in our county's long-term planning process and considering running for the Baldwin County Commission in 2010. I think my candidacy for County Commission could make a major, positive difference in the future of Baldwin County and even that of our state.

This is a significant crossroads and I know I must choose wisely. I do believe the time is now. Our nation finds itself at a critical moment in history where we are thirsting for young and fresh leadership. The conservative movement is stagnating. There must be a new generation of leadership in our nation's conservative movement or our values will continue to whither on the vine and be forgotten.

Hence, I endeavor to seek the Republican nomination for the Baldwin County Commission District #2 seat, and ultimately the seat itself, in 2010. If elected, I will commence to enacting a Transferable Development Rights policy in each district of our county that has chosen, or chooses in the future, to come under the authority of The Baldwin County Planning and Zoning Department. By enacting this "TDR" policy, we will protect our farmers and our county's citizens from continued loss of valuable farmlands and greenspace, thus ensuring the continued quality of life and scenic beauty, which we enjoy today in Baldwin County.

One of the beauties of a TDR program is its optional nature. No one is forced to participate, farmer or developer. It is a market driven system that allows farmers and rural land owners to sell the development rights (TDR Credits) from their rural land and transfer them to a more urban or appropriate site for development. After selling the TDR Credits the rural landowner does not sacrifice anything but the ability to develop his land in the future. He continues to enjoy the benefit of using, selling or bequeathing his land to his heirs. By using this system, we will foster "Smart Growth" and discourage inappropriate suburban sprawl.

Over the past two years, I have involved myself in our county's planning process. I contributed to the development of "Horizon 2025", Baldwin County's Comprehensive Plan which will guide our growth in the coming fifteen years. During the initial public input sessions hosted by the planing department and the Genesis Group, I suggested to the group that TDRs be used as a growth management tool, giving rural landowners another option (besides selling their property outright or leveraging their land with a bank) when making decisions relating to cashing in equity in their assets. I continued to be involved the process of developing the Comprehensive Plan and ultimately was successful in getting the TDRs included in it.

If I am elected to the Baldwin County Commission:

- I will see to the completion of this effort and enact a TDR program in Baldwin County that will ensure out county's continued scenic beauty, and the sustainability of the rural lifestyle, which many of our residents enjoy.

- Many of our rural landowners will enjoy having the option of selling their TDRs.

- The development community will have a new tool to use, which will encourage continued sustainable economic growth.

- We will all continue to enjoy the fresh local produce grown on Baldwin County farms over the coming century and beyond.

- We will enjoy improved water quality in out rivers and bays as a result of consolidated growth into villages and hamlets.

- We will experience reduced need for transportation infrastructure and reduced traffic, as new residential populations begin to consolidate into the "Receiving Area" of villages and rural hamlets, increasing walkability and pedestrian lifestyles.

- We will enjoy cleaner air as the need for vehicular travel becomes less prevalent and pedestrian living more so.

- We will continue to enjoy the diversity of species, (flora and fauna) which we still do today

There are other issues facing our county in the coming years, but I think that growth management is the most prevalent in terms of long term effect on the quality of life for Baldwin County's citizens today and that of its future generations. If growth is not managed well, and I contend that here to for it has not been, our county could suffer irreparable damage. If this is allowed to happen, the Baldwin County in which our children and grandchildren will live, will not share the same beautiful and scenic characteristics of the Baldwin County in which we live today.

Thank you for taking some time to read this email. I hope you will contact me to discuss my candidacy and ultimately, help me with the campaign and winning the election!

For the Future of Baldwin County!

Your Friend,

J. Daniel Dyas
DYAS Construction Management, LLC
23210 US Hwy 98
Fairhope, AL 36532

Steele- Limbaugh Drama at RNC Could Have a Positive Ending

Right now, the Republican Party and the Conservative Movement is running around like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off, worrying about how they can do to draw back the support of the common American man and ultimately regain control over the direction of our nation.

There is a power vacuum in the party right now, so much so that we have allowed the Obama machine to create a soap opera of this so called Rush Limbaugh/ Michael Steele drama. It is so bogus. But the TV networks have gotten a hold of it and now it is portraying the Conservative Movement in America as a ship without a rudder or even worse a ship with two captains. Every one knows a ship can only have one captain, and Michael Steele is the Captain at the RNC. Its as simple as that.

Thats not to say that Michael Steele is a natural born leader. He is a leader by virtue of the fact that the RNC bestowed on him the title of "Chairman", in essence asking him to lead the party. It seems to me that the RNc was so damn eager to try to match the DNC's black man on the ticket- they put Michael Steele in charge of the party. And whatever- Thats great that there is an African American at the helm of the RNC. I think it is wonderful that we have reached that level of racial equality in our nation, but it just seems that the RNC was trying to keep up with the Democrats by making that move. Don't get me wrong: Micheal Steele is as intelligent as the day is long and as conservative as one ought to be. The problem is this: he is not a natural born leader- the charismatic type- the obama type- the Rush Limbaugh type. The type of man that when he speak people have a natural tendency to stop and listen to what he has to say. This is why as long as he is the "voice" of the party, the party will not recover.

Rush IS a natural born leader (not to mention the fact that he is a nationally syndicated radio personality-that helps too...and he got there because he is a leader), so the constituency of the party and those who may be interested in what the party has to say naturally want to listen to Rush. The best thing Micheal Steele could do is ask Rush to accept a role as the official "Voice" of the party- They could make him the RNC Spokesman. He could be kind of like the Ted Nugent of the RNC- only a little more civilized and a lot more widely accepted.

Steele has the wits to know what the party needs, Rush has the following and the leadership to bring the party back together. Steele is the Chairman- Rush would be the Spokesman- now that is a winning solution.

God Bless America,
Daniel Dyas

Alabama Wind Energy Terminal

July 30, 2008

Dear Fellow Alabamians:

I have been hearing a lot lately about a Texas oil man, T. Boone Pickens, who apparently has a plan to help our nation achieve energy independence in the coming years. It is great that Mr. Pickens is doing this and shows him to be a true leader of the sort for which our country has been in great need.

I would like to suggest a local addition to Mr. Pickens’ plan that we Alabamians could enact very soon and insure a healthy energy economy for ourselves and our children in the coming years. Just as Mr. Pickens suggests the construction of alternative energy facilities in the Great Plains region, I suggest the State of Alabama, as a condition to the renewal of any additional oil or gas leases in our state waters, insist that the companies to whom we are selling our non-renewable mineral interests build for us Alabamians a wind energy terminal off the coast of Alabama. Congress has put a halt to additional drilling off of our coast lines, but to my knowledge there is no reason we could not force these oil companies, who have recorded record profits over the past year to build a wind energy terminal in the Gulf of Mexico for the future well being of our state and to replace for our state the non renewable resources which they have been removing from our submerged lands for the last thirty years.

In all fairness, these oil companies are paying significant royalties to the state and contributing significantly to the state coffers. However, judging by the record profits in the past year, they can afford to do a lot more for our state if we are going to continue to sell them our oil and natural gas. A wind energy terminal would be the best thing for our state’s future well being. It could eventually grow to be big enough to provide energy for all of Alabama’s electricity needs, as well as the needs of some of our less prepared neighbor states. In other words, when Alabama’s wind energy terminal is pumping out more energy than Alabama is consuming, we can sell the additional energy to other power companies on the grid, which are not as fortunate as the State of Alabama to have power to spare. This income, or a portion thereof, could be returned to the State of Alabama’s General Fund, Education Trust Fund or a new Fund established for expansion and maintenance of the Alabama Wind Energy Terminal (AWET).

This concept occurred to me four years ago, but now it is time for us to take action. The market conditions and public sentiment are in the right place to make this happen now. I am glad that Mr. T. Boone Pickens is making the construction of wind farms into something realistic and mainstream here in the United States of America. I truly believe that here in Alabama, we are fortunate to have the leverage to force these oil and gas companies to do this for our state because we know that they are generating billions of dollars in revenue from their Alabama leases alone. They will not walk away from that revenue. When any Alabama offshore oil or gas lease expires or comes up for renewal from this point forth, we should insist as a state that our Alabama Oil and Gas Board and our State government as a whole establish a new trust fund dedicated to the construction of a new Alabama Wind Energy Terminal and require substantial contributions to the AWET Trust fund for every cubic foot of gas that is removed from our state’s submerged lands. If we do not take such action now, in a very few years we will find ourselves with a critically depleted reserve of natural gas and not much to show for the resources we did have prior to selling them to the oil and gas companies. If we do make this happen, our future will hold the promise of energy independence, economic health and continued improvement of our quality of life in the coming century. Without abundant energy resources, we could very easily begin losing ground in our constant effort to improve the quality and enjoyablity of modern living. Let us not continue to sell some of our most valuable assets to the oil companies without insisting that they return the favor by replacing them with a wind energy terminal that can sustain our energy needs when our gas is gone.

Please contact you state senator, local legislator, our governor or the members of the Alabama Oil and Gas Board about this issue and tell them how important it is that we insist that the Oil and Gas Companies build this terminal for our state as a condition of renewal for any leases on our state’s gas fields.

God Bless Alabama,

J. Daniel Dyas

CC: Governor Bob Riley

Alabama State Capitol
600 Dexter Avenue
Montgomery, Alabama 36130

Mr. Jim Griggs, Alabama Oil and Gas Board

Mr. Charles “Ward” Pearson, Alabama Oil and Gas Board

Ms. Rebecca Wright Pritchett, Alabama Oil and Gas Board

Mr. Berry H. “Nick” Tew, Jr., State Geologist for Alabama Oil and Gas Board

The Alabama Oil and Gas Board

420 Hackberry Lane
P.O. Box 869999
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35486-6999
205.349.2852